Recall Issued For Homeopathic Children's Medicine With High Levels Of Lethal Ingredient

By: Clayton Browne | April 23, 2017

A pharmaceutical manufacturer has announced it is recalling several children’s medicines due to high levels of a potentially dangerous ingredient named belladonna.

A number of media outlets have reported that Raritan Pharmaceuticals has recalled three homeopathic remedies distributed through CVS pharmacy due to high amounts of an active ingredient in the medications. The medicines currently being recalled are CVS branded infant teething tablets, CVS homeopathic ear relief liquid, and Kids Relief brand homeopathic ear relief oral liquid.

Of note, Raritan began the recall voluntarily when they found higher than specified amounts of the active ingredient belladonna in several batches of their products.

Belladonna has been used as an ingredient in homeopathic and pharmaceutical products for many years, but it is quite toxic in larger quantities.

Atropa belladonna, commonly called belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the Nightshade family (for example, tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant are all Nightshades) native to Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia.

The distribution of belladonna today ranges from Great Britain in the west to western Ukraine and all the way the Iran in the east. Note that belladonna has also been introduced in some parts of Canada and the US. The foliage and berries are highly toxic, containing tropane alkaloids. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine. Ingesting these compounds can lead to a bizarre delirium and hallucinations

Atropa belladonna has various and unpredictable effects. The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine. The plant has a long history of use as a medicine (it is an anticholinergic), aphrodisiac, cosmetic, and poison. Up to the Middle Ages, it was used as an anesthetic for surgery, and the Romans often used it as a poison.

Note that despite its high toxicity, belladonna and belladonna extracts still have many pharmacological uses in modern medicine today.